"Exceptional" Veleno Drafted By Dogs

SHERBROOKE, Que. - The first “exceptional player” in QMJHL history is now a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs.

This morning, the Sea Dogs used the first overall pick in the 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft to select Joseph Veleno. The pick came as no surprise as Veleno, who was declared eligible for this year’s draft just a couple days ago by Hockey Canada, was considered the best player available.

The 15-year old Kirkland, Quebec native had 16 goals and 32 assists in 41 games with the Lac St-Louis Lions this past season. Those are similar numbers that two other top prospects - Maxime Comtois and Antoine Morand - had this year. The difference being Veleno is a year younger than those two.

Veleno also impressed with Team Quebec at the Canada Games this year, finishing second in tournament scoring with four goals and six assists in six games.

Veleno isn’t eligible for the NHL Draft until 2018, meaning no matter how good he proves to be, he’ll be in Saint John for a minimum of three seasons.

It’ll certainly be interesting to watch him develop over the years and how he’ll deal with the pressure of having the "exceptional" tag on him. It’ll also be interesting to see how he compares in his rookie campaign to “normal” rookies.

Veleno joins Alex Grant, Yann Sauve, Simon Despres and Luke Green in Saint John’s No. 1 pick club. Grant, Sauve and Despres have all played at least one game in the NHL.